Has Charlize Theron Been The Fast And Furious Villain The Whole Time? Vin Diesel Explains

The eighth (!) installment in The Fast and Furious franchise will find the crew up against what was formerly their greatest ally: cars. And Dominic Toretto, who finds himself on the dark side in The Fate of the Furious. It's unknown why Dom turned against his family, but it has something to do with Charlize Theron's villain Cipher, who's new to the franchise...or at least we thought she was. The latest trailer for the action flick hinted that Cipher has been working behind-the-scenes for a lot longer than one movie and Vin Diesel elaborates on that.

In the second trailer for The Fate of the Furious, Cipher tells Dom that their "paths have almost crossed before," citing London and Abu Dhabi, two key locations from Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. This implies that she has had something to do with Dom and his friends' more extravagant escapades, but it's still extremely unclear what she means by that. Entertainment Weekly tried to get down to the bottom of it and asked Vin Diesel if Cipher has been the main villain of the franchise all along. Here's what he said:

Everyone in the world thought Letty was dead, including the studio and Michelle Rodriguez. But I fought for her character, because I knew there was something about their relationship that provided a core heart to the saga. When she signs up with Owen Shaw [in Furious 6], she is put on Cipher's radar. It all starts in London, in some ways.

If I'm understanding this correctly, Diesel is saying that Cipher wasn't aware of the group until Fast & Furious 6 when an amnesiac Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) was working with Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Somehow that put the group on her radar and she's been watching them ever since. Sure, okay. That still leaves a lot of questions on the table, though. For one thing, why does Letty teaming up with Shaw hold any significance to Cipher? If she wrote the book on cyber terrorism, wouldn't she have known about the people that drove a safe like a wrecking ball through Rio or did sweet drifts in Tokyo a lot sooner? Am I just way over thinking this and it doesn't matter at all because who needs a plot when cars are fighting a submarine?

See for yourself what Cipher hinted at in the trailer, which we've provided for your viewing pleasure below.

The Fate of the Furious is definitely the most curious and bombastic film in the series, and I look forward to seeing this when it drives into theaters on April 12.